Two years after his first solo exhibition at the gallery, Manuel Solano returns with the exhibition Desafiando a la Autoridad, an introspective journey into the artist’s personal histories.

In this new, multidisciplinary body of work, Solano continues to build upon his intimate universe of queer imagery and pop culture, addressing the notion of memory through a nostalgic, often playful look at childhood anecdotes, events and relationships.

His first communion, a family road trip to Ixtapa and a reinterpretation of Goya’s Saturn Devouring his Son are some of the subjects explored on 12 large acrylic on canvas paintings, which are complemented by a number of videos and installations.

This work follows BLIND TRANSGENDER WITH AIDS, a significant series of raw and intuitive paintings on cheap newsprint paper, which he made shortly after losing his eyesight in 2014, due to HIV-related complications.

At the time, Solano experimented with speed (he spent no more than 20 minutes on each painting) seemingly responding to the urgency of his medical condition – alluding, at times, to the virus as well as the resulting visual impairment, amid a set of personal and popular culture references. In contrast, his new paintings appear as technically challenging, meticulous and imposing.

To coincide with this exhibition, Galeria Karen Huber’s Project Room presents We Can’t Make You Younger, a collection of short stories written by Benoît Loiseau and illustrated by Solano.

Although each story presents an independent narrative, they have been conceived as a series which explores overlapping themes of loss, sexuality and alternative spirituality – reflecting some of the artist’s and writer’s shared preoccupations.

A yoga instructor, an anti-drag queen, Michael Stipe and two wannabe Hawaiian priestesses are amongst the eccentric protagonists, engaging into an often absurd intergenerational dialogue, in search for meaning and coping mechanisms.

The original illustrations will be on display in the Project Room, while the stories are available to visitors in a zine-format, limited edition of 500 designed by Emilio Pérez